Nawaz Sharif’s first order of business: screw Karachi. The entire country receives subsidized power from PEPCO, with Karachi taking only 600 MW out of the 8,000 MW that PEPCO currently distributes. If the logic is that Karachi should not receive subsidized power from PEPCO, then the implication is that Karachi has a special status and thus is not really part of the country. The PEPCO subsidy delivered to Karachi is supposedly PKR 80 Billion per year. Whereas the total subsidy delivered by PEPCO to the rest of the country is about 12 times as much. But there is a way out for Karachi and Sindh’s economic planners. Thanks to the 18th amendment delivered by the hard work of PPP’s Senator Raza Rabbani each province by way of provincial autonomy by and large will be responsible for its own success and failure. Thus it is not inconceivable for Sindh to hold back PKR 80 Billion that it currently sends to the center and use it to for power subsidy to Karachi. My point is that making Karachi pay for the sins of the rest of the country would have worked as a strategy when the center held all the power and could screw any province at will. With the 18th amendment in place provinces can push back constitutionally. If Karachi and Sindh feel that their economic interests are being unfairly compromised then they should fight back to the full extent of the law.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 08:53:59 +0000
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